Success Stories



May 2025 - The Rescue of 3 Onaqui in Need in a Texas Kill Pen - Cheyenne, Ruby and Cardinal
The last two weeks have been exceptionally busy ones on a lot of levels both personally and regarding trying to collaborate and facilitate the rescue of Onaqui horses dumped in a kill pen in Texas. Typically we just enjoy sharing in the final outcome of our Onaqui arriving home safely and a bit about their wild life and wild families on the range and don’t get into all the complex details of how the rescue came to be.
However, for these 3 lovely Onaqui mustangs the entire timeline and story will be shared as an example of just how much time, effort, coordination and love go into each and every horse we are able to save. (Pictured above: Cheyenne first two photos on the left, then 4 year old mare Ruby and her yearling colt Cardinal)
The story begins on Saturday, May 10th at 6:28am when I received private notification of a mare and foal “Magic” and “Epic” who were in the Wish Upon a Horse kill pen in McClean Texas. In the kill pen post a title was also displayed for the mare showing she was an 11 year old mare which I was able to identify using the freezebrand as an unnamed Onaqui from our North herd in Dude’s band by 7:26am. We just assisted in finding a home for another gelding from this same family who wound up in a different lot last month and we had covered the adoption costs from the original internet adoption in ’21 for a foal named Quinn (Dude’s son) so I was very familiar with them.
At 7:32am I shared the kill pen post for this mare and foal pair on our Red Birds Trust facebook page and Save The Onaqui facebook page to help raise awareness of their predicament and assist in finding a placement for them.
At 9:55am I began working with a possible local placement who had assisted us in rescuing another Onaqui mare from the same kill pen last summer.
May 11th – 7:32am the local placement let me know that because of a foal just born, they didn’t have an open run adequate to take the unhandled mare and colt.
9:36am – I compared the title presented by the kill pen to the images of the mare in the wild and realized that the wrong title was being shown for this mare. She appeared to only be 4-5 years old, not 11 years old and did not match the description of what the actual horse would look like at this time.
9:45am – I texted the kill pen to notify them that the title being shown to go with “Magic” was not a match and asked them to send me a scan of her microchip number or photo of her freezebrand so I could try to identify who she really was and if she was from the Onaqui HMA.
May 12th – 9:7am I had collected several microchip numbers from other grey mares at the same kill pen and had BLM run them to see what HMA they were from. This is when I was able to identify the real 11 year old mare who went with the title posted for “Magic” and she was listed as “Cheyenne” in the kill pen’s facebook post.
2pm – I was involved in an auto accident leaving my own mustangs where I was t-boned drivers side by a truck going 60+ mph which broke my front axel, totaled my vehicle and sent me and my friend to the ER via ambulances. The truck initially hit my front drivers side quarter panel and a bit of my door, then spun my car in a 180 and slammed into the back blowing all the glass out.
5:31pm – I notified another advocate of my auto accident who does a lot of work with kill pen mustangs and that I wasn’t currently able to work on finding a placement for the mare/colt pair who remained unidentified.
May 13th – 7:29pm after going back and forth all day with a former adopter who had helped to rescue an Onaqui in Washington state, a possible home placement in Oklahoma was found for the Onaqui mare “Cheyenne.”
May 14th – 4:11pm – I was able to confirm that the home placement for 11 year old Onaqui mare “Cheyenne” in Oklahoma was willing to take her and a transportation date/time were secured. (still no confirmation of who “Magic” and “Epic” really were from the kill pen)
May 15th – 8:47am I bailed Onaqui mare “Cheyenne” from the kill pen using donation funds that we had on hand and did non launch a fundraiser due to the immediate need for the rescue to save her from being shipped to slaughter. A transport date/time was confirmed with the kill pen and a health certificate completed.
3:14pm – I received a photo of “Magic’s” freezebrand and identified her as an East Onaqui herd mare who was born in 2021 making her 4 years old this year.
5:30pm – I was tied up dealing with issues related to my accident for the remainder of the day so Ann Cunningham immediately stepped in to help and Sally Madigan at Salvation Wild Mustang Sanctuary stepped up to start a fundraiser to raise money to cover their bail so they could be transported to Ann’s rescue in New York. Ann had come to our rescue 2 years ago driving several hours to Pennsylvania at last minute notice to save 2 other Onaqui mares from falling into the hands of kill buyers who were then transported via Red Birds Trust fundraiser donations to their forever home in Texas. So when she heard about my accident she once again came to our rescue to help rescue more of our beloved Onaqui and Sally didn’t hesitate to assist either.
May 16th – 11:35am Red Birds Trust launched a fundraiser on Facebook to cover the costs of the haul from TX to NY which Ann Cunningham had been able to arrange earlier that morning with her hauler for May 21st.
11:39am – on of my tour clients who had just spent 3 days on the Onaqui HMA with me last week and who fell in love with them paid ½ of the bail needed to save the mare and colt and Sally was able to raise the rest of their bail by the end of the day.
May 19th – the 11 year old mare “Cheyenne” who we rescued on the 15th was picked up from the kill pen and arrived at her beautiful new home to start the process of getting to know her new human family. She has been very calm during the entire transition, allowing to be hosed off to keep her cool, fly sprayed and the first afternoon home her new humans son was petting her on her back. Everyone is delighted to see the unveiling of who this beautiful little lady really is now that she’s safe and watch her grow and thrive in her new home.
Ironically Cheyenne is the suspected mother to a young black Onaqui gelding who was just rescued from a sales lot the first week of April now named “Seven” who lives with his forever humans in Calfornia not far from gelding Quinn who Red Birds Trust paid all adoption fees on back in 2021 and who has since been living at Paradise Dreams Sanctuary with several other Onaqui.
May 21st – the 4 year old mare and her yearling colt “Magic” and “Epic” who were bailed by Sally Mulligan at Salvation Wild Mustang Sanctuary on May 16th were picked up late in the afternoon by our hauler and began their journey north to Ann Cunningham’s happy mustang heaven in New York.
May 23rd – “Magic” and her colt “Epic” arrived safe and sound to Ann’s beautiful property where they’re getting the royal treatment enjoying a cozy quarantine period in her spacious barn so they’re protected from the pouring rain that arrived this week and can get lots of treats and TLC.
They have been renamed Ruby and Cardinal and as soon as they’re done with quarantine young Cardinal will begin the process of getting pampered and gentled by local 4-H kiddos and introduced to his new life. Ruby will also start the process of healing her injured hock and then her journey to the gentling process can also begin. They are both sweet and curious and taking all these changes in stride.






















UPDATE: After 6 months in foster care Cheveyo had made it very clear that he was simply not interested in transitioning to a domestic horse lifestyle. So after much discussion and coordination on March 21st, 2024 Cheveyo got on his final trailer ride to a life forever wild again at Engler Canyon Ranch in Colorado. Upon his arrival March 22nd he was greeted by several other members from his Onaqui herd who call this 20,000 acre free roaming sanctuary home and he ran out of that trailer as fast as his little legs could carry him to once again integrate back into herd life without human interference.
Its not often that I speak with absolute certainty about divine intervention, but in the case of saving Cheveyo’s life there’s little question that’s what happened.
Cheveyo is a Native American term for Spirit Warrior. “to be a spiritual warrior means to develop a special kind of courage, one that is innately intelligent, gentle and fearless.” This south Onaqui band stallion encompasses just that.
His life began in the south Onaqui HMA of Utah where he lived his best life for many years. He had a small family consisting of a darling little black colt born in 2020, a quiet sorrel mare, a beautiful bay roan mare named Denali and her 2021 colt Mystique and last but not least the beloved Blue Eyed Filly. All of that changed in 2021 when he was rounded up by helicopter along with the rest of his family and south herd then taken to the government holding facility to be auctioned off in an internet adoption.
From the holding pens he was shipped on a BLM livestock transportation truck southeast with countless other Onaqui mustangs and eventually ended up in Texas where he lived with a woman who considers herself to be an equestrian and barrel racer. This woman eventually proceeded to sell him to a kill buyer/direct ship facility also in Texas where he was scheduled to be sent to die on August 27th.
The kill pen believed him to be untitled and he was not displayed on their website or social media as a horse available for sale, simply put on the schedule for the next truck out to ship. Fortunately for him a kind woman was in the pens taking photos and noticed his unique coloring so she took numerous images of him which included his brand. The brand, unlike so many others, wasn’t covered by his mane and was able to be deciphered which is how it became apparent who he was.
The following is a short version of a mad scramble to save him on Thursday night, August 24th. Michelle Henderson had shared his photos, brand, scheduled ship date and kill pen contact info. on social media which quickly began circulating. I was contacted by numerous people simultaneously quite literally from one side of the US to the other including Retta Risley, Clare Staples and Megan Burns among others.
I had the funds to bail him, but before that could happen we needed to find haulers, quarantine and a place for him to have a soft long term landing. With simultaneous conversations flying back and forth between us all and various hauling/quarantine options we miraculously had the boxes all checked in about 90 minutes. I also confirmed that he was in fact titled.
I then texted the kill pen and asked to purchase him and gave his tag # in the photos and was told there wasn’t a horse with that tag at their lots. I felt sick. I then sent photos of him and got radio silence…
At this point Michelle was also trying to reach the kill pen on her end and long story short about 3 hours later (8:30pm my time) I received a text from the kill pen with his lot # and location (Kaufman instead of Kemp). I sent the funds to them immediately and was to coordinate the rest the next morning.
So at o’dark thirty Friday morning I called again, paid for his Health Cert and secured a hauler to pick him up on Monday and bring him to a quarantine location that both Clare and Retta had managed to secure for him in Kansas.
He was picked up Monday afternoon and made his freedom ride to Kansas. After an overnight stopover with the hauler he managed to clear their 6’ panels and run when they were trying to load him back up to make the final leg to quarantine. Fortunately, they were able to get him back in a pen and eventually loaded and hauled to quarantine where he’ll spend the next month decompressing from the week from hell.
According to the quarantine facility so far so good and he’s been very calm and was eating and drinking right away. She even put a shade structure up for him so he can go stand in the shade and enjoy the breeze during his time there.
At the end of September I’ll make the haul back to Kansas to pick up Cheveyo and at long last bring him home to Utah. There were SO many people involved in the mad scramble to save his life and I hope some day he’ll come to understand that not all humans are bad.
We are very grateful to Clare who generously offered to cover the cost of his haul from TX to KS and the cost of his quarantine while he’s there. Red Birds Trust will be covering the cost of his haul from Kansas to Utah and his board for a healthy year while a foster family donates their time gentling him on a schedule that is most comfortable for him.
We’ll likely never know what he went through for those 18 months in Texas, but based on his fear levels described by the kill pen and haulers it’s safe to say not much if any of it was good. He’ll be in great hands with a foster family who’ll make sure he gets all the TLC he needs and were the missing link we needed to making this whole rescue a success.
We humbly welcome any donations and/or ongoing sponsorships to assist in his physical care and mental rehab as it’s going to be a long road but one that’s well worth it for a horse that if it wasn’t for a flock of angels watching out for him would have fallen through the systems cracks.


























September 9, 2022 - Giraffe & Leilani
Giraffe was an elderly buckskin pinto in the south Onaqui herd who was failing after being roundedup and removed in the 2021 roundup. She was rapidly losing weight and was being bullied by other mares in her pen at the BLM facility.
Leilani was the 2021 filly of another friendly bay mare in Giraffe's band who Giraffe loved to nanny in her spare time in the wild. Red Birds Trust was delighted when we asked Wild Heart Sanctuary in Park City, Utah if they would provide a safe forever landing for these ladies and they said yes!
We covered the cost of their adoption fees and transportation to thier new home where they have been thriving ever since.













I can't even begin to express how touched we are to have not only reached our goal, but exceeded it. This sweet little Onaqui momma will be going home to be reunited with her son Legend in a few short days at a private adopters home. You can follow along in their journey at the Legend the Onaqui Mustang facebook page where this little fella gets all the loves and pets he can possibly handle.
The outpouring of love and support for this group of mustangs over the past year has been nothing short of miraculous. Truly.
As you may have noticed not only did we meet our goal, but we actually exceeded it! This was completely unexpected but the first thing that came to mind was to split the extra donations between two sanctuaries who went above and beyond during the last internet adoption and took whatever Onaqui horses seemed most at risk, were heavily pregnant, or needed to stay together.
These sanctuaries were promised abundant donations from sponsors and donors, all of which fell through after the adoptions were finalized. Of course sanctuaries weren't taking the horses based on monetary promises, however, as any horse owner knows horses are not cheap keepers and these sanctuaries are mostly kept afloat off volunteer efforts and kind donations from sponsors.
To state it simply - without support from local communities near and far animal rescues and sanctuaries wouldn't be able to exist.
So there will be an additional $450 donated to two sanctuaries - Dreamchasers PMU and Paradise Dreams Animal Sanctuary.
As we've said before, no horse left behind and we hope to be able to continue to help individual adopters, sanctuaries and wild Onaqui on the range for countless years to come.




















